We are beginning break up here in Alaska….we still have lots of snow and ice ,no spring green yet….so our green for saint paddy’s day comes from the heavens ….not sure why I continue to try to capture the lights ….it never measures up once I get to the computer to edit …but I am having fun …. if it matters I still do get excited when viewing from the back of camera…..the numbers on the data page and the info from many web cams screamed storm ….. everyone seems to capture a different storm

…most of their shots were true to raining auroras…mine were just lots of green with just tinges of pinks and reds and moving so fast ….made your head and tripod dance in high gear….. early in the storm I watched the skies

… read the many pages of aurora chasers ….I can never stop laughing at the ones who think because they are taking photos everyone should bow down to their work….and their made up rules

…..their many post of aurora watching etiquette……no joke there are 18 or more pages of these fine rules on the net …..my come back to theses fine rules and guide lines…. GET A LIFE…if your shots are that important find a new spot away from all the hot viewing spots…..

it has become a very sad world when one makes rules for others on how they should act when viewing nature …… no one should have to worry about lights on a vehicle because it cause light that will ruin your photo

…no one should have to worry about your camera and tripod in the dark … try putting glow in dark reflective tape on the bottom of you tripod …

why should I have to look for another spot to view auroras just because you are taking photos….and if you are in the dark bundled up in dark clothes you need to try putting reflective tape on your aurora shooting clothes …it is your life

…yes I am a driver of an auto but you have to be responsible as well……why do all your rules of etiquette tell the new viewer or aurora shooter what to do …..what about you …why do you feel that you are in charge of a public place …I hope every new viewer turns on their lights …holds their foot on the brake light…trip over your unmarked tripod …invades your public space…..and scared you when they almost run over you ….come on people it’s a big world and a bigger state and the last time I looked the sky over head did not belong to anyone

climbing down off soap box and going back outdoors to take more shots of the awesome world ….Still Standing MOM …I AM STILL STANDING

It finally happen ….we both could get together…..even when it looks like we aren’t
talking our cameras are…….we see the same light …we hear the same light …yes
hear light …it twirls around your lens and gathers force that makes you click the button that captures and draws the vision into your disks

…I needed the time out and about with like mind ….it was windy,cold to the bone but very,very sunny …I HAD FUN…thanks Vicky Padgett for an awesome time……she drove us around on very icy roads

…at temps that belonged at the real north pole …..the walk about we were not chasing the sun it was standing still for us…..it flickered off the ice and the tips of the trees

finding its way in to the tracks of the animals

…..we hear airplanes over head …birds……snowmachiners….. it was the refreshing day both for us cabin bound people along with our cameras that are starved for light of day…….but our short visit with the great outdoors and the beautiful sun had to come to a stop….

we had to stop and take photos of the piles of snow around the stop sign

all the little mounds of snow looked like they were waiting to cross the roads…. what a day ..what crazy thoughts ….here is my favorite shot of the day

A trip to town to delivery eggs and stop at bread store…to get day old bread for chicken feed addition…..then on to Clinic to get scripts to take to Va hospital to fill…I always sit in truck and wait ….hospitals and clinic are full of sick people….not a place to go if you are not sick….

we have some of the really smart raven in Fairbanks ….from early age they learn the outline of garbage bags in backs of trucks …they seem to know the difference between an Alaskan suitcase and a bag full of food….

they works in triples …one to find the gem …one to check it out and one to keep the owner for seeing the others steal said person blind….I am always on the look out for them…

I want to spend a day just taking their photos ….seems like when I do have my camera they are just feet out of the shooting range and when I don’t have my camera they are up and close talking then fluffing their head feathers and rolling their awesome eyes

….they are so smart …they have the most beautiful feathers ….and their hip hop walk is so funny to watch….I have seen as many as 50 in the Sam’s Club parking lot walking in a circle and then running at each other…. then they would throw back their heads and open their beaks and jiggle their heads up and down as if they were in some secret meeting of their family

….once saw a raven pick up a smoke that someone had dropped it was still lit the raven swallowed it down than every time he would open his beak out would come smoke or steam …either way it was silly to see….the photos here are of one shot I managed to capture the morning of the trip ….I played in picasa3 program with different ways the photos can look…..

Sometimes the walls of this house become way to tight…..we waited and waited…. it was either black ice road conditions or extreme temps…. either side of the zero on the gauge can be extremely dangerous…but we finally caught it just right even though it was cold ….really cold….so off we go the wheels on the truck went thump ,thump thump till they warmed up

the weather and steam off everything trying to work was amazing….every steam plant was working over time and the thermal pools on the rivers and lakes were steaming up the air….

around every bend in the road was another vista of beauty…..snow covered sun shadowed and sun light were our views …roads were both icy or dry …depending on the bend in the road ….some views many,many,miles away looked like they were sitting in middle of roadway….

the amount of snow and weight of more hoar-frost and the extreme temps made the trees and grasses look like place from another world….. the stop sign seem to even scream Stop Already Winter……the sounds at these temps seems to triple in volume…the crunch of the icy snow seems to have its own music…

we viewed moose and caribou and eagles along the way….the moose were so hungry they were down on their knees eating last years grass stubs and the caribou seem to think that my camera was a sign saying heads down ….the eagles photo was taken while truck was in motion but it was not as out of focus as I thought it would be…..they were all busy feeding ….
we made it back home before sunset
it was maddening trying to capture the sunset while truck was moving …we could not stop because of afternoon traffic off base…….but we were back home and happy to have had a beautiful day of travel ….
Still standing MOM …Still Standing

When I first looked at numbers there was nothing exciting …but I got cameras set up anyway and went to do something else …..than I looked again and the cam and the data were exciting …..walked out the front door … the sky was dancing ….but the cat got out the door …so I had to chase him…..NOT FUN chasing cat at minus 39 degrees……he finally stopped and I returned his furry butt to house….than LADY AURORA STARTED AGAIN….NOT AS BRIGHT AND FAST AS FIRST DANCE BUT SHE WAS DANCING …

college of best shots of the night ….loving the new remote timer and the new ball head tripod

right above the edge of the back of the house……after chasing cat this was how lady aurora came back in to focus…..fast moving

the big dipper was moving just as fast last night across the driveway …..

Than lady aurora moved herself over the middle of Judy Lane …so I had to hurry to the middle of the lane and try not to capture electric lines and poles

another of her as she began to fade over the lane….disappearing into the trees…..

than she flared up for another unfurling of light

as she danced toward me in the dark …adjusting camera to straight up ……

she flares than disappears again….by this time I am so cold I can not punch the little button on the remote time to call it a night

After weeks of clouds and snow and extreme minus temps…..Lady Aurora returned full of herself…….in some places even with extreme colors of red and tinges of yellow ….but for me it was watching the data page and running out my front door to middle of drive way ….the first night was special…I had watched and been out the door many times …was getting so frustrated …but hubby said trying to be cheeky ….”When I go out to feed chicken hon I will whistle them up for you”……he was gone a long time and I had just came in from checking….he pops in the door and says hurry hon they are dancing …..he whistled them up ….the sky was full of pinks and green….

Collection of a few of the 165 shots I took…on night of whistle from hubby…..temps around minus 39 below zero….

Collection of last night (02-02-20150)…had waited and watch and grew tired so took shower and washed hair…put pjs and went back and checks data …yep you guessed it ..three good data marks… wrapped up wet hair two scarfs and hubby’s hat with ear flaps and heavy down coat and boot,mitts …. tripod, remote, camera …..all of 8 minutes to get ready …out the door slipping legs of tripod into place and turning on camera and remote and then standing in ewe as she danced above me ……oh what a night and all before midnight….temps was minus 18 and the flag was moving so there was just enough breeze to cause movement ….making temps even colder…..